Trader John Santiago works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month. / Richard Drew, AP

by Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY

by Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY

Stocks shrugged off disappointing economic data in the U.S. and Europe on Wednesday and closed at record highs for a second consecutive day. Tech giant Google surged past $900 a share to close at a record high.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 60.44 points, or 0.4%, to hit a closing high of 15,275.69. The Standard & Poor's 500 index jumped 8.44, or 0.5%, to a record 1,658.78. The Nasdaq composite index rose 9.01, or 0.3%, to 3,471.62.

Initially, stocks got off to a weak start after a report showed U.S. factories cut back sharply on production in April, as automakers produced fewer cars and most other industries scaled back. The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that manufacturing output dropped 0.4% in April from March, the third drop in four months and the biggest since October.

Investors often shrug off reports of sluggish economic growth, because it suggests that the Federal Reserve will keep pumping money into financial markets.

They expect choppy economic growth, so they take disappointing reports in stride, said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank's wealth management group. "It's a good backdrop for the market to trend higher," Sandven said.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index surged 2.3% to 15,096.03 on news of the nation's approved government budget that boosts military spending for the first time in 100 years. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.5% to 23,044.24.

Stocks in Europe were seeing steady trading. The Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 0.7%.

The German economy, Europe's biggest, returned to very modest growth in the first quarter and avoided a recession. France's economy, however, is back in recession. Gross domestic product in the euro-zone declined 0.2%, worse than expected.

France's CAC-40 index rose 0.4% to close at 3,982.23, while the DAX in Germany rose 0.3% to 8,362.42. Britain's FTSE index of leading shares added 0.1% to 6,693.55.

Benchmark oil for June delivery was up 12 cents to $94.33 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier in the day it had dipped as low as $92.06 a barrel, 4% below the $96.35 a barrel price just a few days ago.